The future of the Bobcats

ESPN.com writer Bill Simmons listed his 33 most intriguing people for this upcoming NBA season.

23. Unknown Owner X
You own a team in one of these places: Charlotte, Memphis, Sacramento, Indiana, Milwaukee, Philly or Minnesota. You lost a ton of money last season -- eight figures easy -- and you're headed for an even bigger loss this season. Your sales staff has come up with so many ticket gimmicks to falsely boost attendance that you basically are paying fans to sit in the upper deck. Half of your suites are dark for home games. Either your franchise guy is being paid to carry the franchise but isn't quite good enough, he wants a lucrative extension that he doesn't deserve, or he wants to get traded and you'd be looking at 50 cents on the dollar for him. You keep uttering the words "capital call," and your minority owners keep pretending they can't hear you. Either you laid off staff members or you're about to lay them off; just know that morale in your organization couldn't be worse.

You thought it would be fun to own an NBA team.

It's not. Not at all.

So what do you do if nobody wants to buy it? You have four choices: move it, gut it, sell it or do something crazy. I don't think we will see the first option happen; the relevant suspects all have leases. We definitely will see some gutting and selling. But the last option … that's the one that intrigues me. How "crazy" is crazy? Could we see a team go bankrupt a la the Coyotes in hockey? Could we see two teams try to merge? Could we see … (gulp) … the league take over operations for a team? Are there more Russian billionaires lurking in the future? Where are we going? Something unbelievable is going to happen this season. You will be shocked. By March, you will know the identity of Unknown Owner X -- and possibly Unknown Owner Y and Unknown Owner Z -- and these three paragraphs will make much more sense. You wait.

 

I thought this one was more interesting. MJ is a joke.

31. Michael Jordan
If you missed it, MJ served as honorary captain of America's team for the Presidents Cup two weeks ago. According to this column by Bob Verdi, MJ showed up that Monday (in San Francisco, where the tournament was held), then participated in all the preliminary events. And he definitely stayed through the weekend for the Cup itself. Glancing through this photo gallery, it looks like he had a wonderful time. There's even a photo in which he appears to have gotten to second base with President Bill Clinton. And, of course, it seems like his new girlfriend had a wonderful time.


Nice one-week vacation for MJ, right? The Cup wrapped up Oct. 12, just 15 days before the start of the NBA season. And normally, this wouldn't be weird … but Michael Jordan is the team president of the Charlotte Bobcats.



That same week, I was in New York and heard the following story from Someone Who Knows Things: Larry Brown was talking to one of Jordan's friends about something that didn't have anything to do with Jordan. Right as they were hanging up, Brown casually mentioned to this friend, "Hey, if you talk to Michael, can you tell him that I'm trying to get ahold of him?" And normally, this wouldn't be weird … but Larry Brown is the coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.


(Needless to say, I won't be picking the Bobcats for the 2010 playoffs.)

 

I think Memphis is most likely the team he's talking about.

 

Never understood why someone didn't try a second team in Chicago. They would never supplant the Bulls but Chicago is a basketball town. St. Louis would be another option.

 

California

Golden State is in Oakland, but I'm surprised the Clippers don't try and move to San Fran or something like that. Playing in the same building as the Lakers, they will always seem like the cousin to the beloved Lakers.

Just glad the Bobcats drafted Gerald Henderson so that I don't feel as betrayed by pulling for abunch of Tarheels lol. Did we ever get rid of Sean May? That man is the sorriest excuse for a high draft pick. He's never playing. ALWAYS HURT!!

 

Sean May is in Sacramento and I've read a couple of articles the past couple of days listing him as a potential breakout player and a steal.

 

Or send the Clippers back to San Diego.

 

Unless he leads them to a title, we're better off without him.

 

Could happen and for him I hope it does. He got a bum rap in Charlotte. Even though they had to let him go. He's a very good player just couldn't stay on the court with those bum knees and the resulting weight problem. When he played he performed. The problem was he couldn't play.

But even if he is a breakout player there I bet it won't last long. Injuries will resurface and he'll be on injured reserve again.

 

May wont stay in shape. That is sad for a guy who makes millions of dollars to play a game....